Potato pancakes without the frying pan: Easy-does-it latkes

Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, celebrates the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem after the victory of the Maccabees over Syrian-Greek forces. With only enough consecrated olive oil to fuel the flame in the Temple for one day, the oil miraculously lasted for 8 days.

Meaning the Festival of Lights is definitely not the Festival of Lite.

But think of it this way: it’s your DUTY to eat fried foods during Chanukah. So you need no excuse whatsoever to indulge your passion for fried potatoes, a.k.a. latkes. Hopefully with sides of sour cream and applesauce, to complete the traditional holiday picture.

When you think potato pancakes, you probably think frying pan, sputtering oil, standing at the stove…

I thought, “Well, at least I can use my electric fry pan. It shouldn’t be too messy.” I was wrong. Next step: Plan B.

“I wonder… wouldn’t these fry in the oven, given enough oil on a baking sheet?” Hmmm… That would certainly eliminate the grease-slicked countertop and spattered appliances from traditional skillet frying.

“And if the pan was large enough, couldn’t the entire recipe of pancakes be cooked at once, and come out of the oven en masse, ready to feed everyone at the same time—thus eliminating the cook standing at the stove, back to the crowd, while everyone else makes merry?”

Yes, and yes.

The pancakes fried beautifully in the oven, cooking up golden brown and crisp in just about 30 minutes. Which gave me plenty of time to whip up a quick batch of homemade applesauce in the microwave.

Warm applesauce with latkes probably isn’t traditional, but the combination of mahogany-brown, crisp potatoes; freshly made cinnamon-scented applesauce, and rich sour cream is a beautiful tapestry of colors, textures, and flavors.

And a lovely celebration of the Festival of Lights.

Let’s start with the basics: 3 russet (baking) potatoes, about 1 1/2 lb.; and a medium-sized onion. The potatoes don’t need to be peeled; the onion does. Wash the potatoes (obviously).

For latkes that are soft and creamy inside, crunchy outside, choose the finest shredding disk of your food processor. Don’t have a food processor? Use the finest shredding disk of your hand grater.

Here are the shredded potatoes. I put the onion through the same size shredding disk and it turned into purée; you can see a bit in the bottom right corner. In retrospect, I should have used the medium shredding disk for the onion, fine for the potatoes.

Place the shredded potatoes and onions in a dish cloth.

Wring as much liquid out of the vegetables as you can; you’ll be surprised how much that actually is. Potatoes are juicier than you’d think.

Mix the vegetables with flour, egg, and salt.

It’ll look like this.

Pretty unprepossessing. But trust me, this will turn into something wonderful.

Pour enough oil onto a baking sheet that when you tilt the sheet, the oil will actually move around. In other words, don’t just coat with vegetable oil spray; pour a coating of oil onto the sheet probably 1/8” to 3/16” thick.

If you can be very watchful (we don’t want any grease fires here), heat the pan with the oil in the oven for several minutes, to get it really hot. If you don’t trust yourself, just work with the room-temperature pan and oil; the potatoes may absorb a bit more grease, and be marginally less crispy, but honestly, they’re fine that way. I tried it both ways.

Dollop 2 1/2” to 3” patties onto the pan, pushing any stray bits of potato or onion into place. If you let them just hang out around the edges, they’ll burn; so it pays to be neat here.

You’ll probably need more than one baking sheet here. It’s tempting to crowd the latkes onto one 18” x 13” sheet, but then it’s difficult to flip them over, maneuvering in such close quarters. Once you’ve got all the latkes onto baking sheets, place them in a 400°F oven to bake till the bottoms are brown, 20 to 25 minutes.

While the latkes are baking, make your fresh applesauce. I’m using about 1 pound of apples here, which will yield about 2 cups of sauce. This is a good way to use up soft or bruised apples, by the way.

Core the apples, but don’t peel them. I love this apple corer/wedger, by the way. Wish we sold it here at King Arthur! But you should be able to find one in a kitchen shop, or even a good hardware store.

Put the apples in a microwave-safe bowl, and cover with plastic.

Microwave for 3-4 minutes. I can’t tell you specifically; microwaves vary a lot in power. When you remove the bowl from the microwave, the plastic will gradually plaster itself onto the apples. Let this happen, as the apples continue to soften a bit during this cool-down.

Remove the plastic to reveal very mushy apples.

I’ve added cinnamon sugar and boiled cider, plus a touch of salt. Feel free to use the sweetener of your choice (or not). If you’re counting calories, Splenda works fine.

For chunky applesauce, use a potato masher to squash everything. For smooth applesauce, place the apples in a food processor, or blend with a hand-blender, till the sauce is as chunky as you like. The apple skins give the sauce rich color.

PJ Hamel grew up in New England, graduated from Brown University, and was a Maine journalist before joining King Arthur Flour in 1990. PJ bakes and writes from her home on Cape Cod, where she enjoys beach-walking, her husband, two dogs, and really good food!

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Ooohhhhhhh………..mmmmmmmmmm. I’m not Jewish, but I have to say, there are two things that are better than anything, and one of them is latkes. The other is matzo ball soup. I’m drooling just thinking about them.

Latkes are truly a staple for fish fry here in Wisconsin – I grew up eating them with either applesauce or maple syrup.

And we’re naughty here – we fry them up. 😉 Only thing that is different from my recipe (and probably makes it un-Kosher) is that we add a few crumbled Ritz (or butter) crackers to the mix. My mom bakes hers sometimes, but I say, where’s the fun in that!? 😉

We’re celebrating Chanukah with some neighbors this year, and I’m really excited that they want to include us. 🙂

Thanks, Nick. I’d never made potato pancakes before, so I followed my co-worker’s (Halley) recipe to the letter (except for frying in the oven). Otherwise I probably would have been tempted to skip the wringing-out step, too. PJH

I’ve never made latkes before, but I love potatoes and have been tempted to try. I love the idea of cooking them all at once, in the oven, and no splatters or pot of oil to clean up. I just might try your easy-does-it version!

Go for it, Teresa – I’d never made them before, either. If I can do it…. 🙂 PJH

Well, I’m a bit late to the game here, but Melissa D’Arabian has a sweet potato version you can find on the ‘net as well. She uses cornstarch instead of flour and pours boiling water over the shredded potatoes before forming into the cakes. Not sure what that does, but it seems to work.

If you have a juicer, this is a very easy and fast way of finely shredding the potatoes and extracting the water. I have a Jack Lalanejuicer so i put the pieces of raw, cleaned potatoes into the feeder and collect the dry, fluffy shreds from the container that usually collects the fruit and vegetable pulp from juicing. No wringing, squeezing, or wasting paper towels necessary. The extracted starchy potato water can be used in place of plain water to make bread – the yeast loves it.

I love latkes and make double batches every year for Chanukah and can’t wait to try them in the oven this year! Thank you! Do you plan on doing a fried jelly doughnut recipe? I’ve never tried before but I thought I’d give it a go this year!

No sufganiyot this year, Lisa – I haven’t found the perfect foolproof recipe yet… BTW, does anyone have any good tips for filling jelly doughnuts without a pastry bag/tip? PJH

Hmmmm, generations are rolling over because of this recipe. This generation, however, may just give it a whirl. Does the whole kitchen still smell like latkes two days later?

Well, it does the generations good to roll over and get some exercise every now and then! And yes, the entire second floor of our warehouse smelled like latkes for at least half a day – and ae have a 35,000-sq.-ft. warehouse… PJH

I just read Lisa Cohen’s post about sufganiyot. I live in the Boston area and I cannot find any really good Sufganiyot around. If you could find a recipe (during Hannukah or otherwise), it would make me so happy I can’t even describe!

Wonderful!
My recipe calls for soaking the shredded potatoes in ice water, and then wringing them out in a linen dish cloth. Something abou the starch, I think.
I’ll definitely try the oven-fry method.

These look marvelous. I’m glad you included the applesauce recipe, it goes so well with latkes. Will you be posting a recipe for Sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) also? please?

Sorry, Renate, I haven’t yet found a foolproof sufganiyot recipe. Anyone who can help, give a holler. I’m especially interested in how you fill a jelly doughnut when you don’t have a pastry tube and tip. Any good work-arounds? PJH

PJH – I’ve used one of those round squeeze bottles that you would use for decorators icing (like for cookies), storing ketchup or even storing oil in. If the tip at the top is too small, I’ll snip it off a bit for a bigger opening. Also, if the jelly is being stubborn, you could gently heat it in the microwave to make it a little more fluid!

Great, thanks, Joe. I was thinking a squeeze mustard bottle but mine still has mustard in it! I’ll look around for one – maybe that’ll inspire me to work harder on a sufganiyot recipe…PJH

Do bad things happen if you use less oil, or cook them on a silpat? I love latkes but I hate that they’re so greasy. I thought oven-baking might be a good alternative–any hope for using less oil?

Sure, you can use less oil – they just won’t be traditional latkes. They won’t be crisp like latkes. It’s a tradeoff. If you use a Silpat, my guess is they’ll be soft and won’t brown; kind of like stringy mashed potatoes. If you don’t use a Silpat, but spray a pan with non-stick vegetable oil spray, you’ll probably get soft, slightly browned mounds of potato. It might help to spray the pancakes themselves with olive oil spray. Bottom line: I don’t recommend any of this to make latkes. But certainly feel free to make… potato-onion patties(?) this way… For less greasy latkes, use barely enough oil to sheet on the pan, and pat them firmly with paper towels, front and back, when they’re done. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it! Good luck – PJH

I made these last night, and while they were yummy (great flavor!) they didn’t turn out as crispy as those in the photo. I used enough oil (even measured with a ruler). The edges were crispy, but not the centers. I used the 1/4 cup scoop KAF sells to dispense, and flattened them out. I also have thermometers in my oven, so I know it was at the proper temperature. I worry that the patties soaked up too much oil before the oil got hot enough to start cooking them. Also, the patties in the photos look smaller than mine were. Any tips? Thanks!

Hi Gayle – I tried both ways, heating the pan with oil in it first in the oven; or just doing it cold. Didn’t seem to make a difference. But it might be our ovens here…. So I’d suggest, as you say, briefly and carefully heating the oil in the pan (in the oven) before plopping in the patties. I made mine about 3 tablespoons’ worth, and patted them flat so they were the same thickness all the way across, edge to edge. I think that helps them fry evenly. Were yours burning at the edges before they were cooked across the center, so you had to turn them over? Or maybe you just needed to let them go longer before turning? PJH

What a good idea- no standing at the stove getting everything, including me greasy. I’m going to try this on Sunday. Slight change- I use the Simply Potatoes shredded potatoes in the refrigerator section and follow the same directions(or my mother’s recipe)- also can use frozen chopped onions-this is not being a purist but when you are making many many latkes,it shortens the work. Keep the good ideas coming

What a great idea. I have been cooking bacon this way for years – line baking sheet with heavy duty foil, cook in 425 degree oven, turn once. No splatter, no mess, when the grease cools on the foil, wad it up and throw it away. I will definitely try the latkes.

I will definitely try these. I have a question, though. Step 1 in the recipe says to use the fine shredding attachment, while Step 3 says that the fine attachment will create mush. Here you say to use the finest shredder. So I’m confused as to which one it should be. My grandmother used a box grater, but I was to little to notice (and remember!) which side of the box she used. Thanks in advance!

The finest shredder for the potatoes, Maureen, but that fine shredder will turn the ONIONS to mush. So use a coarser shredder for the onions. Also, you can use a coarser shredded for both; it’s just that the potatoes will be in bigger chunks, and won’t have that “creamy” interior texture. Good luck – PJH

I think I might try oven frying on a recipe my mother use to make, instead of shredded potatoes my mother used left over mashed potatoes. We called them “tater cakes”. She also fried them in a pan on the stove. And got all greasy. I bet the home made applesauce will go with them too!

I will try this as I hate standing there cooking 3 of them at a time. Plus the house smells horrid after frying them. The whole house smells of fried potatoes and oil. Drives me nuts for days afterwards.

Thanks for the great idea. I’ve seen Rachael Ray make oven fries where she heats up the pan first. I’ve been wanting to try that so I’ll try this first. I’ll write in to let you know what my family thinks.

I’ve added sweet potato to my latkes some years – maybe 1/4 sweet to white? Nice touch without really changing the character of latkes.

I’m really looking forward to trying this method…I usually put my latkes in the oven to stay warm on a cookie-rack lined sheet pan after pan frying, but I HATE that the house smells of frying oil for days afterwards. Hoping this method helps with this. I have found that taking the filters from my exhaust fan and running them through the dishwasher right afterwards helps, along with deep cleaning all surfaces of and around the stove (including the bottom of the microwave/exhaust fan!). Maybe the oven method will reduce the after-cooking clean-up? We’ll see.

It’ll definitely reduce the cleanup, but you’ll still smell the oil – be sure to run your oven’s exhaust fan on high, Nancy, that helps. PJH

I have a group of vegans coming to my house for Hanukkah this year, and would love to make latkes for them. What do you think would be a good substitute for egg? I think that you can buy powdered vegan egg substitute, but I’m wondering if there is another more traditional ingredient that might work.

Well, since the egg is there only as a binder, I’d think you could very well leave it out; the cakes will certainly hang together without it, especially if you’ve shredded the potatoes on the fine shredder. Just be sure to press them together gently on the pan. Or you could do as another reader suggested: collect the starch from the drained potato water, and add that back in, which would add more substance and help them hang together. Or you could use a classic vegan egg substitute, which is 1 tablespoon soy flour mixed with 1 tablespoon of the drained potato water in place of the egg. Or you could whisk a tablespoon of cornstarch into the flour, probably the easiest solution. Ah, a wealth of possibilities… you didn’t think I’d make this easy for you, did you, Halley? 🙂 – PJH

The latkes came out great, however my poor sheet pan. How do you clean the burnd spots off of it?? I like my pans shinny. I would rather clean a frying pan, and the stove.

I put a layer of wet baking soda on the burned spots, wait, then scrub. Also, try greasing the pan with non-stick vegetable oil spray first. Seems weird, with all that oil, but that lays down a first layer that really helps. PJH

Just wanted to point out that Hanukah actually starts on Sunday, December 21st, at sundown.

And a question: Doesn’t the oven get splattered?

Thanks Pat – that was pointed out to me by one of my friends yesterday, too. I’ll change it. And if the oven got splattered, i didn’t notice it. Maybe because it’s so splattered already, anyway; that’s what the oven cleaning cycle is for…PJH

PJH–thanks for responding. I cooked them for about 27 minutes before flipping them. Yes, the edges were getting pretty dark by then, but the centers were still quite pale. It might be a difference in size. The instructions say to make the patties 1/4-1/3 cup, and you made yours only 3 Tbsp. in size. That might be the reason why mine (1/4 cup or 4 Tbsp. size) didn’t cook the same. I notice that the yield for the recipe is 18 latkes. Uh, mine only made 8 or 9. (I weighed the potatoes and everything. Left the skins on too.) I will try again and make them smaller. The flavor was so yummy that it’s worth another shot!

I have often made vegan latkes. Potatoes are so starchy they stay together, and the binder (flour or matzoh meal) helps with that too. They have always turned out well without an “egg substitute” and been delicious. Vegan sour cream is one of the better “non-dairy-dairy” products and I have used that also. If you are not a vegan, but serving your latkes with a meat meal, the vegan sour cream could be an option. Happy Hanukkah to all.

Hi, I tried those latkes- what a great idea! I always wanted to make it easier and cleaner- THANKS FOR THE GREAT TIP. I can only add a little one: heat the baking sheet with the oil before you put the patties -this way they will not stick!!!

I love the idea of doing it in the oven. I am making sweet potato latkes right now following your oven method, and later this week I will make your recipe. One tip I have learned over the years is that when you squeeze out the water from the potatoes, do it into a bowl. Let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes and then pour out the liquid. In the bowl should be the potato starch that was in the water. I put that back into the potato mix and cut down a bit on the flour.

I am going to try this tonite-hope it works, otherwise my family will rebel like the Maccabees! My only change to the instructions would be to shred the potatoes in the processor, alternating with the onion, then put back the blade and process in short bursts. Place mix in strainer- it will stay white thanks to onion, let drain. Pour off liquid but keep the potato starch and mix it into the potatos. This is a technique from Mimi Sheraton that I have used for years. Enjoy!

I only have one size shredder on my food processor and use it only for the onions. For my potatoes I always cut them into 1-2 inch chunks and keep them in a bowl of ice water so they don’t turn brown while waiting to be processed. Then in medium sized batches I pulse in the processor using the KNIFE attachment, not the shredder. I pulse until the consistency of chunky applesauce. Then I tranfser it to a colander to let the liquid drain. If you process onions first and have them already in the colander, it will help prevent potatoes turning brown. Next time I will line the colander with the dish towel first.

I think Kim mentioned her mom made potato cakes using mashed potatoes. My husband made them this morning, and they were awfully good. Here’s a recipe:

2 cups (firmly packed) leftover mashed potatoes (made with butter and milk) from the night before (my husband says you can’t use freshly made mashed potatoes)
3 eggs, beaten, and salt and pepper added to taste (go heavy on the black pepper and light on the salt)
About 12-14 saltine crackers, crumbled up in your hands

Mix the above ingredients together. On a griddle or in a frying pan heat one tablespoon each of olive oil and butter, and then using a large serving spoon scoop out a spoonful of the potato mixture, and plop them in the heated pan. They will look about the size of hamburgers. You’ll be tempted to flatten them to make them look prettier, but don’t. I repeat, don’t flatten them. They will flatten on their own when you turn them over. Cook about 3-4 minutes on each side, until they are nicely browned. Very tasty. I love them plain just the way they are, but my husband says one of his coworkers puts pancake syrup on them (this will ruin them in my opinion).

Just curious – I am wondering if anyone has used their food grinder attachment with a fine plate to “grind” the potatoes instead of shredding or grating them??
I usually use the shredder attachment of the KitchenAid Mixer…..
Thanks!
Sharon

I tried to make these tonight. I wasn’t successful. I lined the sheets with foil first to make cleanup easier and the latkes stuck! I ended up giving up, getting as much latke off the foil as possible and frying them in a pan. They ended up being great anyways! By the way, I have also made them with the fine plate to grind the potatoes as well with great success. With both methods I drain them in a fine mesh strainer. I make mine with a little baking powder to make them a little lighter. Happy Hanukkah!

Good idea with the baking powder, Sue. I’m sorry they stuck to the foil; if I try lining a pan with foil, my stuff ALWAYS sticks. That’s why I don’t line pans with foil. I honestly didn’t have any problem cleaning my pans after frying these. A layer of non-stick vegetable oil spray laid down before the oil seems to help. Sorry for your trouble… PJH

I have been living in Israel for the past 38 years and the tradition here during Hannukah is to eat jelly-filled doughnuts instead of latkes.
(you still get the idea of eating something cooked in oil!) Over the years the bakeries have tried to cut down on the calories and made them more delicate and decorated . They are not as sweet as the Amercan one, but they’re great and just as symbolic for the holiday! Wishing you all a Happy Hannukah !

I am recipe challenged (i.e., I can’t read) – I added more potatoes (twice as much) and only one large egg. The potatoes were yukon gold not russet. The onion was a large yellow sweet (so here the potato/onion ratio was ok). Used the only shredding blade we had (probably a medium). We like the coarse texture.

Might even try the recipe next time (although successful chefs would probably stop while they’re ahead).

Last night I made the latkes in the oven and wow! how great to not have grease all over the kitchen. They tasted wonderful and I even added grated sweet potatoes to some of them for a little sweet treat…
Love this method!

Does anyone know of a substitute for the flour that would work the same way in the latkes? I’d love to have a gluten-free version. Cornstarch? Soy or rice flour? Other suggestions? I would go with the rice flour to make them gluten-free. Molly @ KAF

You could also save the potato water, let it settle, drain off the water part, and mix the starch (that’s settle don the bottom) back in to the potatoes. Or just go without the flour – they should be fine. PJH

I followed the recipe exactly. I heated the baking sheet
with the oil in the oven first, and then carefully removed it to place the latkes. They turned crisp and brown in about 18 minutes on the first side. However, they were a yucky gray color between the browned areas. I shredded more potatoes, but rinsed them in a bowl of cold water before I squeezed out the liquid. I fried that batch on the stove.
Despite the gray color, everyone liked the ones done in the oven better! They were crisper and more browned than the ones made in the frying pan. I had no problems with burning or sticking to the baking sheet. I plan to oven fry them again, rinsing in cold water first. It was a good way to make a lot at one time. -ml

In the reviews several cooks recommended adding vanilla and one cook recommends filling the donuts after frying with, of all things, a turkey baster! Said it was much easier than filling, crimping and frying.

When I’m in a hurry, I cut the potatoes in chunks and put them in the blender with enough water to cover about an inch or so. Blend quickly and then strain in a fine mesh strainer. This works very well. But don’t do it with the onions……much to watery! then just follow the recipe.

I mix equal parts of shredded white potato, carrots, zucchini, and onions instead of all potato. You must squeeze out ALL THE WATER YOU POSSIBLY CAN and then add the rest of the ingredients. YUM! It works great in a frying pan- can’t wait to try the oven. It’s a huge hit in our family.

I’ll be trying these today. Was wondering, what if I heat the oil and THEN put it on the baking try… no fire fear, no cold oil.. crispy result – u think that’ll work?

So long as you’re careful, and work very quickly. The oil will naturally cool down as you transfer it from fry pan or skillet to baking sheet, so the cakes might tend to stick a bit more. But it’s definitely worth a try- PJH

Has anyone tried reheating these? I promised to make them for a friend’s birthday..he begged. But it’s in in the 90’s, so I’d like to make them at night when it’s cooler to serve tomorrow for dinner without heating up the oven for an hour before they arrive. Do you think they’ll be crispy enough?

I have rewarmed these pancakes. They never seem to be as crisp on day 2 as when fresh. But I only have a conventional oven at my disposal at home. If your oven has a convection setting, you might be able to bring them back closer to the original. Frank @ KAF.

These potato pancakes are a bit delicate since they’re baked rather than fried. They might not hold up well to a heavily-topped breakfast sandwich, but if you’re okay with eating them with a fork and knife, you’re welcome to give it a go. It would be a delicious combination of flavors! Kye@KAF